Daryl Katz made one of the biggest real estate deals in Los Angeles history when he paid $85 million for a Malibu house in 2017. He also threw in an additional $21 million for the home’s furniture and artwork.
Recently, the Canadian billionaire, owner of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team, made another residential decision. He put the 4.5-acre property at 1100 Bel Air Road on the market on July 8. It was listed for $38.5 million.
Drew Fenton of Hilton & Hyland holds the listing. He did not return an email request for comment by press time.
Currently, 1100 Bel Air Road is the site of an unfinished structure, according to photos on listing sites. Before 2012, the lot included a house where Canadian-American TV personality Art Linkletter lived. Linkletter’s heirs sold the house in 2012 for $10.6 million. The buyer was Canadian-American property developer Francesco Aquillini, who also happens to be chairman of the Vancouver Canucks NHL team.
Linkletter’s house was demolished after Aquillini bought the property. In 2015, an LLC linked to Katz acquired the property for $34 million. There were plans for megamansion architecture firm McClean Design to build a house at the site, according to a 2015 Dirt.com article.
A description posted on listing sites notes that 1100 Bel Air Road includes a long private driveway and commanding views of the region that span from downtown Los Angeles all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
1100 Bel Air Road is part of a crop of megamansion projects that either never finished construction or fell short of expectations in the market. Mohammed Hadid’s Strada Vecchia estate is a three minute drive away; the incomplete megamansion site sold for $5 million last year. The One and 777 Sarbonne Road also fit the category, with the Sarbonne Road site one of the few troubled Bel Air megamansions where construction was completed by its auction.
Both The One and 777 Sarbonne Road sold below their asking prices. For example, the original asking price for 777 Sarbonne Road was $87 million; it sold at auction for $45.7 million. At a May sales hearing for the property, Judge Sheri Bluebond remarked that sales had flopped for megamansions. Every large property in the area had not sold for what sellers hoped. “The market is a little squishy at that price point,” Bluebond told the court.
Stuart Vetterick, a Hilton & Hyland realtor who co-represented the buyer on The One, said that moneyed individuals will continue to seek listings like 1100 Bel Air Road, no matter if the market is up or down.
“Large, flat parcels with big views will always sell due to the rarity of those combined characteristics. Given that a majority of this hillside parcel is flat, that generally allows for a larger home and easier build,” he said.
“Usually the buyer for these types of listings have done their research and are comfortable with the time and capital investment that will be required to see the development through to completion. Bel Air Road is well known for being home to some of the most expensive homes and this will be added to the list.” he added,
Vetterick was not familiar with the specifics of 1100 Bel Air Road, but he knows the neighborhood well. He ranked 17 on The Real Deal’s recent list of top Los Angeles residential brokers.
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